I remember when my daughter was born. Visions of her and I dressed in pinks and purples sitting in her lacy pink room playing dolls danced threw my head. A year later my son was born ;My husbands vision of sports and trucks revved around like mad men threw his manly mind.

Those dreams were simply that dreams. Little did I know there are lessons for parents to learn about children’s toys and who are children will be.

My daughter plays with dolls. She plays with clay and gets her hands dirty. She plays in the dirt, climbs trees and races her trucks around ,he plays kick ball , base ball and can run as fast as any boy.

My son plays with trucks and builds with blocks, he colors and plays ps2 and he plays house with my girls rocking babies and feeding them.

There was a time my husband would bark to my son “Put down that doll!” until we came to the realization that play is really a child’s preparation for real life. Our daughter was learning sportsmanship and how to be a team player from all the sports she played. My son was learning compassion and parenting skills from those dolls. It’s amazing to me to watch my son now with his baby brother…I can see the compassion he has learned threw us and his play and I know some day he will be a good father I see my daughter line up her brothers and sister for a game of kick ball. And I see how she has learned to take the lead and take charge. I know some day in what ever she put her mind to see will be a success.

My message to parents is not to limit their child. Toys and sports are learning tools for life and they shouldn’t carry a gender.

By the way…my daughter and I play but its not dolls….many days you can find us all at the beach…covered in muddy sand driving our big Tonka’s™ .

© 2004-2005 Jennifer Gove
www.simplymoms.com

About The Author
Jennifer is a stay at home mother of eight.Living on the coast of Maine. To visit her parenting site that include more aticles, forums and chat go to www.simplymoms.com/forums. zjgim@hotmail.com

1. Give your child a spray bottle of water and watch them spray every possible thing outside of the house!
2. Use shaving cream in the bathtub for extra fun. It is usually possible to find cans of shaving cream that cost only a dollar each.
3. Remember that Barney dolls, Sesame Street dolls, and the like are as real to your child as any other person that they have met. Respect their relationship with their ‘cloth’ friends.
4. Buy a small pet, such as a frog, lizard, goldfish, bunny, hamster, etc. Toddlers need something to love. A pet will add much more stimulation to your child’s life than any other toy will.
5. Replace your child’s stroller with the wagon for outings to the park, the mall, etc. Wagons can make both toddlers and their parents very happy. Wagons are symbolic of you and your child making it through the baby stage and entering the world of “big kids.”
6. Teach your toddler to march to the beat of “one-two-three-four!” while the two (or more) of you play your instruments. Your child will never want this marching band game to end!
7. Make a sandbox out of a large plastic container for your child to play in. If you put the container outside, covering it will keep the cats from mis-using your new toy.
8. Build towers together with blocks. Your child will learn about spatial relationships, balance, etc.
9. When using Play-Doh with your child, show them how to make little snowmen, snakes, etc,. since it is difficult for their little fingers to mold clay at this developmental stage.
10. Set up finger painting in an empty bathtub with your child wearing only a diaper. This can make finger painting a much less stressful activity for a parent.

About The Author
This piece was written by Dr. Clare Albright, Psychologist and Parenting Coach, and author of “100 Tips for Parents of Two Year Olds”, which can be downloaded for only $5.77 from www.ParentsOfTwoYearOlds.com